Chief Minister of Haryana Manohar Lal Khattar has tested positive for coronavirus and has been admitted to a hospital in Gurgaon. ML Khattar took to Twitter on 24 August to state that he has tested positive and was admitted to the PGIMER hospital in Gurugram at around midnight.
ML Khattar is the 10th Chief Minister of Haryana, and was elected from the Karnal constituency. He had last week decided to go into home quarantine for three days as a precautionary measure.
In his tweet, Khattar appealed to all of his colleagues and associates who came in contact with him over the last week to get tested. He also went on to request all his close contacts to move into a strict quarantine.
He tweeted, "I was tested for Novel Corona Virus today. My test report has returned positive. I appeal to all colleagues and associates who came in my contact over the last week to get themselves tested. I request my close contacts to move into strict quarantine immediately."
The Speaker of the Haryana Assembly, Gian Chand Gupta had also tested positive for the coronavirus recently, with only two more days for the state assembly session. Now, Deputy Speaker Ranbir Gangwa is expected to preside over the session.
Along with Speaker Gupta (73) and BJP MLAs Aseem Goel and Ram Kumar also tested positive for COVID-19, Health Minister Anil Vij said. Six Assembly staffers have also tested positive for the disease, officials said.
Just hours before announcing that he had tested positive, CM Khattar had posted a message to Chand Gupta, wishing him a fast recovery. The tweet in Hindi read, "Take all precautions and take care. I pray to God for your speedy recovery".
Senior leaders took to Twitter to send words of encouragement to the CM of Haryana and wished that he recovers soon. The Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, replied to Khattar's tweet and said that he prayed for his speedy recovery.
Minister of Finance and Corporate affairs, Nirmala Sitharaman also tweeted," My prayers for your quick and complete recovery, @mlkhattar Ji."